1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus capable of providing input images with additional information, and a method therefor. Also, the invention relates to a storage medium that stores such method.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, an image formation apparatus, such as a color copying machine, a color printer, has begun to be able to form high quality color images. With such advancement, the images can be formed even almost the same as the bank notes, securities, and the like.
However, since the formation of such images as those valuables is prohibited, there is known the techniques to suppress the formation thereof.
For example, there is a method to provide (embed) a pattern that may specify the name of an image formation apparatus in use or the user thereof, which is hardly discriminative by eye-sight for all the images formed by the image formation apparatus. Here, this additional information is provided only for the yellow component of the Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan) and K (black) which form a color image, hence making it difficult for the human eyes to discriminate the presence of such additional information.
In this respect, the provision of this additional information is usually executed after the image data, which is written in the page description language, is developed into an image, and also, after all the related image processes and others are completed. This is because the image is reliably formed without changing the configuration of the pattern that represents the additional information if the addition of the additional information is performed immediately before the formation of the image.
In this way, should there be an image which is formed illegally, it is possible to know the various circumstances under which such image has been formed by decoding, by means of the decoding the above-described additional information from the image thus formed using a special decoding device.
Also, the additional information described above is usually provided for a one-page portion of an image as a whole (embedded invisibly by eye-sight on the entire recordable area of the image). As a result, the overall image quality is subjected to degradation, because with this method, the pattern that represents the additional information is even superposed with the marginal portion and the like of the image inevitably. Here, in order to solve this particular problem, it has been proposed to embed the additional information invisibly by eye-sight only on the area where the image is formed.
As described above, the conventional page printer, or the like develops the coded data which is written in the page description language for the image formation, and performs various image processes after the development of the input of the coded data, and then, appends the pattern that represents additional information lastly in such a manner as to make it hardly discriminative by eye-sight.
Here, for the page printer, it is possible to form separately the printer controller that performs the development of the coded data and image processes, and the printer engine that receives the image data thus processed and performs the image formation lastly. It is, therefore, considered preferable conventionally that the above-described additional information is added by use of the printer engine.
Conventionally, it is more likely to be practiced that a host computer is usually used to input the image data that may be fabricated as the counterfeit image. Therefore, it is essentially meaningless to add the above-described additional information to the character strings and graphics other than the objective image. This type of additional operation may only invite the degradation of the image as a whole.
Each size of the object images, which are developed from each of the coded data written in the page description language, tends to vary widely from a comparatively large one, such as a bank note, to a smaller one, such as a postage stamp.
As a result, if the pattern which is added to images is in one and the same size or in one and the same cycle, irrespective of the sizes of the images to be formed, there is a fear that the pattern that represents the additional information is not reliably added to certain illegally formed object image which may include any one of them, such as those of the bank notes or post cards, as the case may be.
The present invention is aimed at solving all the problems discussed above or solving at least one of them.
In order to achieve such objectives, the present invention makes it possible to minimize the load of processes required for adding the additional information to the inputted image hardly discriminately by eye-sight without degrading the quality of the ultimately image when the image is formed by developing once the coded data having a plurality of commands therefor.
With such objectives in view, one preferred embodiment of the present invention discloses a method which comprises the following steps of: developing coded data into image data by analyzing them, at the same time, creating the positional information within one display of said image data; discriminating the area to embed a specific information therein in accordance with the positional information created in the development step at the time of development; and embedding the information hardly discriminately by eye-sight in the area discriminated in the discrimination step.
It is also an object of the invention to provide an image processing method which is capable of embedding the information in a small-sized image in good condition.
It is another object of the invention to provide an image processing method which is capable of embedding the information even in the images of various sizes in good condition.
It is still another object of the invention to make it possible for an image processing apparatus capable of forming the object images of plural sizes to add the pattern that indicates the additional information reliably to each of the objects hardly discriminately by eye-sight so as to suppress the formation of illegal images.
It is a further object of the invention to develop the coded data written in a specific description language, and add the pattern suitable for each object hardly discriminately by eye-sight when each of the object images is formed corresponding to the coded data thus developed, hence suppressing the formation of illegal images.
It is still a further object to the invention to provide a method for embedding the additional information having new functions.
Also, it is another object of the invention to provide a software capable of operating a computer for achieving each of the above-described objects by use of the computer or the medium for storing such software.
Other objectives and advantages besides those discussed above will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the description of a preferred embodiment of the invention which follows. In the description, reference is made to accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and which illustrates an example of the invention. Such example, however, is not exhaustive of the various embodiments of the invention, and therefore reference is made to the claims which follow the description for determining the scope of the invention.